Tolerate: to allow;exist or occur without interference.
Intolerance: unable or indisposed to tolerate; unwillingness to recognise and respect

I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.

Gluten and lactose are not my friends.

Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.

I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

November 27, 2012

In My Kitchen...

In My Kitchen..... I wish I had more of these amazing tropical fruits from the Singapore Market!

I love my Bloggy Pal Celia, she has the gorgeous blog Fig Jam and Lime Cordial, and apart from her wonderful cooking adventures and baking the most fabulous-forbidden-for-me bread, she runs a monthly In My Kitchen roundup to show off some of the goodies that make their way regularly through her doors. Other blogs are welcome to join in and it's really very fascinating to see the goodies out there in the bloggy world and what other foodie bloggers have in their kitchen each monthhttp://figjamandlimecordial.com/

Now I'm either very late for the November round up, or very early for the December one... I'm going with early and claiming that I'm really very organised in the run-up to Christmas. You may chose to believe that or not, but I'm sticking to my story

Can you believe the red of that Dragonfruit? Creamy flesh from the Mangosteen, and the crisp juiciness of the Rose Apple- kinda like a great big Lillypilly fruit- yummo!

This month I'm posting some of the goodies I picked up on my Singapore trip.
My luggage held so many little treasures, that I was worried about stuffing it all back in the bags if we were searched by customs- not because of hidden naughties, but just getting it all to fit in again! To save any hassles and avoid forgetting any iffy items, I packed all our food and wooden items in a separate bag to make it easy on the customs guys. It also lessened the worry of sauces and packets bursting over dry-clean-only clothing items in my suitcase :) Travelling is stressful enough without adding extra stresses.

Would you like to see some of my purchases?

Some pre-packaged Singapore favourites, made for tourists but a bit of fun! I still haven't checked all the ingredients, but at least the kids will enjoy them

Look at these gorgeous little ceramic cups that will be perfect for nibblies like steamed custards, laksa shots, etc.
I also bought a whole pack of tiny takeaway cups that will surely come in handy sometime, and a couple of dozen half-sized Chinese Spoons to use for serving appetisers, like single Seared Scallops with Black Bean Sauce, or a bite sized serve of Duck and Lychee Salad- yummo!

A selection of Chopsticks!
Wooden ones, steel ones, silk wrapped ones, and even ones that are shaped like coloured pencils. I love eating with chopsticks, and already have an extensive collection including personalised engraved ones and some gorgeous jade ones for special occasions

A few Japanese items I picked up for Bento Boxes
Sushi rice shapers, sushi roll makers, nori cutters, egg shapers and a cute red Bento Box as well
I love sushi, so many ways to enjoy such a great gluten-free goody

Lots of bits and pieces from Little India:
Thali plates, a String Hopper press which I've been after for ages, a Rose Cookie mould, and a stainless steel Tiffin Box. The prices were incredibly cheap, and just to good to miss out on

Various other odds and ends picked up in an awesome Catering warehouse:
a Wave Cutter for slicing pretty waves into cakes, vegetables etc, a rice mould, a Lucky Koi jelly mould, and even more chopsticks with a holder- perfect for popping into my handbag!
My dear BigJ and littlej sat outside in 32* heat with 100% humidity, while I explored the depths of the store. I would have taken longer, but I didn't want them to suffer any more than necessary- I'm nice like that :)

A selection of awesome regional cookbooks. These certainly put me over my luggage weight limit of just 15kgs, but oh-so-worth-it! Clothing or cookbooks? What a silly question!
I can hardly wait to try out all the bookmarked pages

A local Foodie Magazine. I subscribe to many here in Australia, so was very interested to see what topics were covered in other countries. It was very interesting, and chock full of great recipes as well

Another local Singapore Delicacy! There are even specialised Kaya Toast Cafes set up in homage to this delicious breakfast treat.Who knew that eggs, sugar and coconut milk would make such a wonderful 'jam' ? It makes even gluten-free bread taste great!

There you have it Dear Readers, a few of my latest kitchen purchases. But the big news is that in the New Year I'm getting a whole new kitchen! Well, a remake anyway. I need room, I need storage, I need bench space... I just need to decide on colours. What a hard choice! I thinking colour, but BigJ is thinking neutrals. Decisions, decisions...

So Dear Readers, what colour is your kitchen, or what colour would you chose if you could?

We weren't the only ones who enjoy a tropical fruit salad!
A visitor to our hotel room balcony looking for leftovers- delicious indeed!

Retro green is the colour I would choose in a flash, one day one day...As for all your goodies....!!!! Oh! Kicking myself actually. My brother is currently in Singapore and I think I should have given him a rather large shopping list for me. Actually maybe it's safer this way?So many goodies to be had.

What a great selection of tropical fruits. I sometimes see them in grocery store but I hesitate and don't buy them because I'm not sure what to do with them. How exciting to be getting a new kitchen. I'm so looking forward to seeing the improvements xx

A new kitchen.... oh, the PRESSURE! We recently replaced the floor and benchtops. Floor - love it! Benchtop... sigh... still in dispute...I LOVE to see the stuff you bought. I have my own stash of chopsticks :-)

There is something about chopsticks- I have a collection that I won't let anyone use. I have plenty others that they are welcome to put into use- but not my special ones!Love the fruit and the books and magazine.And I'm sure the customs people loved you for putting all your items in one bag.Thanks for sharing all your loot- I love the stuff foodies bring home from their travels!

Oh, I loved this post, Becca. It was like visiting Singapore all over again, and I haven't been for years! I forget how much treasure there is over there - what great cooking and catering pieces you've bought. I love it all, but oddly enough, especially the little takeaway cups... xx

I used to have a yellow & light brown kitchen and I miss it so much! The way the light used to filter in around 4pm each day (while I started dinner) Oh how I miss those care-free days & so mellow colors! Since then, we bought an old house that needed sooo much work that my kitchen is a hot mess! The only thing fabulous about my current kitchen is the Gluten free food pouring out of it :) Thank you for taking the time to post. Your words are appreciated!

About Me

The InTolerant Chef is the nom-de-plume of The InTolerant Chef.She lives in Canberra,Australia,with her husband Big J, and 2 daughters, Little j and Middle C. Gluten and Lactose are not her friends. She also has many chemicals who refuse to tolerate her, and insulin finds her hard to resist. Despite all this, the InTolerant Chef is a healthy,happy person who loves cooking for her family and friends.